New Rossi R92 .44 Mag...Questions

[vonb]

I just picked up a new 20" stainless Rossi R92 in .44 Mag. Shot it for the first time this past weekend and it has me impressed. It fed factory CCI .44 Special Blazer with a 200 gr Gold Dot really well. I had also loaded up some 200 gr Hornady XTPs using H110 and Starline brass. With that load, it was straight out thumping me with the metal butt plate. I did a ladder test and loaded up to 28.5 gr H110 and it was giving me ~2,123 fps. With this load, the rear sight was set on the lowest notch on the elevator and was still ~2" high @ 25 yards. With that said, I have a few questions:

1) I want to shoot this little R92 more but can't handle the recoil of H110 for any extended shooting session. I'd like to use something like a Hi-Tek coated 240 gr bullet. What powder do you recommend for accuracy and for plinking? I have HP-38, Unique, HS-6 to choose from.
2) How fast can you run the Hi-Tek bullets for leading, blowby occurs? I've never used coated bullets.
3) Was the H110 load above hard on the rifle's throat? 20 rounds total of H110 from 27.7 gr - 28.5 gr.
4) What do you recommend for a slip on recoil pad for the R92?

[missionary5155]

Unique. Been shooting this old powder name ever since I started reloading my own.
Start at 6 grains and load 7 rounds. Make a good squirrel smacker. Very quiet.
Then just keep adding .3 (3/10) grains to 7 rounds till you get your goal.

[725]

I load for accuracy and not "How fast can I make it." All of my accuracy loads are more than sufficient for any game I've gone after.

[pietro]

,

FWIW, If the POI is too much above the POA for your druthers, a switch-out for a front sight blade that's about 1/10" taller than the current sight blade should allow zeroing with the rear sight in the middle of it's elevation adjustment range.

[Larry Gibson]

+ another for Unique. I shoot a lot of 44 Mags with 8.5 gr under 240 - 255 gr cast SWCs, my own or commercial. I don't shoot many coated bullets but what I have shot I've found some guns won't foul/lead with them but some will. as to your rifle it will depend on the load, the sizing and the rifle. Suggest you get them at .430 minimum size.

If your carbine has a shotgun butt then I'd google or search the supply houses for a pad that fits.

[T-Bird]

My Rossi likes 429421 sized .430 Hi Tek coated (by me). and loaded over 10 gr AA#5. Goes about 1200fps. Doesn't feed well, but there aren't any gunsmiths around here anymore to work on it and if I just tilt the rifle forward the next round will drop into the chamber after ejection so I'm not concerned.

[centershot]

About 9-10 gr. of Unique with a 240-250 gr. bullet should be a good "all-around" load from a carbine, certainly enough for any deer, black bear or hog anyone would come across. Ten grains with a 250 grain Keith bullet from my Contender put a lot of venison in my freezer over the years. No need for more power.

[sandog]

I got this leather lace up pad from Amazon for around $25, maker is "Original Power". It comes with two thin pads inside made of a good dense foam, there is room to add more if needed.
The pad fits the small R92 stock when the lace is snugged down all the way. It sure adds some needed length so now the Rossi doesn't feel like a kid's carbine. And for hard kicking loads, it feels a whole lot better against your shoulder than that metal butt plate.

[AlaskaMike]

Another vote here for 9 to 10 grains of Unique with a 240 to 250 grain bullet. It makes a great midrange plinker load.

Alternatives to Unique would be Power Pistol or BE-86 with same charge weight.

[Kosh75287]

ANOTHER alternative to Unique, that is often sitting near where the Unique USED to be, is Alliant Herco. I used to think that it's a shame such a fine propellant was so under-appreciated by reloaders, until the shortages. NOW, I'm glad that it's less well known than Unique.

Alliant Unique, BE-86, and Herco all have very similar, BUT NOT IDENTICAL, burning rates and loading data. Generally, I find that max. charges for Herco run 3 - 8% higher than Unique, but tends to deliver higher velocities in barrels 5" and longer. BE-86 seems to be between Unique and Herco, in terms of charge weights and performance. It is the best metering of the three.
I have not tried Power Pistol (heard good things), it appears to be slower burning, somewhere between Herco and Blue Dot. With that in mind, I would EXPECT the loading data to be different enough for it to matter, but perhaps not.
I am a long-time fan of AA#5, in .357 Mag., .45 ACP, and .45 Colt "+P+" loads. It meters VERY well, burns cleanly (when pushed hard) and gives very uniform results from a chronograph. Its burning rate appears to be between Power Pistol and Blue Dot, so I would NOT expect its loading data to be similar to the other propellants mentioned. I would expect it to be an EXCELLENT "general purpose" pistol propellant, well-suited to powering the mid-range .44 Magnum rounds you seem to be hoping to develop. Currently, it appears to be more available than the Alliant propellants (sigh), and I doubt that anyone would be disappointed in it, if they bought a pound.

[oley55]

my R92 is a bit older and the barrel is pretty large and needs .433" cast bullets. Unfortunately for me a .433" bullet loaded in a case will NOT pass between the loading gates and I am afraid to start taking metal off the gate lips. So it's a single shot if I want to shoot cast.

Just suggesting you may want to slug your barrel before you invest too much.

[oley55]

I got this leather lace up pad from Amazon for around $25, maker is "Original Power". It comes with two thin pads inside made of a good dense foam, there is room to add more if needed.
The pad fits the small R92 stock when the lace is snugged down all the way. It sure adds some needed length so now the Rossi doesn't feel like a kid's carbine. And for hard kicking loads, it feels a whole lot better against your shoulder than that metal butt plate.

I have a very similar leather pad and use a piece of 3/8" of gel pad used in motorcycle seats/pads. Works great for me to reduce shoulder bite.

[DaveM]

If you load it to .44-40 ballistics it will be pleasant to shoot. E.g., a 200 - 220 grain bullet at 1200 - 1300 FPS.

I have an Interarms 65 (older, rebranded R92) in .44-40 that is quite nice to shoot, even with full power BP loads.

[Tazman1602]

My Rossi likes 429421 sized .430 Hi Tek coated (by me). and loaded over 10 gr AA#5. Goes about 1200fps. Doesn't feed well, but there aren't any gunsmiths around here anymore to work on it and if I just tilt the rifle forward the next round will drop into the chamber after ejection so I'm not concerned.

Hey T-Bird,

If you’ve got feeding/jamming issues and have any ability at all to work on your rifle, go to:

Www.stevesguns.com (or web search for Steves Gunz if I mucked it up…)

And get his DVD and spring kits/mag followers. I have a few Rossi’s I got in various calibers maybe ten years ago when they were cheap and I.e. 38spl would not feed in 357 mag etc. Followed his directions and my Rossi’s feed whatever I stuff in them now.

To the OP — every Rossi I have and I don’t know why….shot high out of the box. Some just took a higher front sight, others I cured with a combo of that and Marbles tang sight.

Art

[GasGuzzler]

If it's recent production make sure you are using the rear sight properly then consider filing off the ears and lowering the rear notch. Please note the Rossi front sight dovetail is metric and requires a "non-Winchester" sight. Skinner makes the proper sights for a Rossi. Check out Ranch Dog's Rossi Rifleman website for more Rossi owner supplied information.

[sandog]

Skinner offers a .650" tall blade that will probably have to be filed down. I find their "file to fit" blades to be too thick for my liking.
Steve's Guns shows front sights that he says fit the Rossi, but they look like the same sights that Marbles makes.
I was unaware that Marbles made anything but sights for a 3/8" dovetail, who knows, maybe Steve got Marbles to make up a batch of non standard sights, but I doubt it.


You can use any sight, Marbles, Williams, Lyman if you are willing to put a shim under it. The R92 pictured above has a Uberti take off ladder sight and a Marbles 1/16" white bead front, both were loose in the dovetail until I placed a piece of pop can aluminum as a shim.
Now they are tight, and no one is going to notice a .0047" gap under the sight.

[T-Bird]

Thanks Taz, I looked at that as an option. I got it working "well enough" so it went on the back burner.

[Dom]

I drive a 280 gr PB home cast bullet at about 1200 fps. Deadly accurate & also quite powerful. Recoil very easy on the shoulder. I also use a soft slip on recoil pad. Simple